


Shifting Family

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Series: SPN Poly Ship Bingo [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Mary Lives AU, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 09:53:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11079156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: There's no fire, Mary lives - but the family is destroyed anyway when Mary tells John what happened.  Mary and the boys end up in Nebraska living with Bill Harvelle and his fiancee Ellen.  When John finds his way back into their lives, it's a surprise for everyone.





	Shifting Family

**Author's Note:**

> Written for SPN Poly Ship Bingo
> 
> Square: Ellen/John/Mary  
> (I, um... got a little off-track?)

She’d never expected to see him again.

 

After the fire, Mary had given up on normal. She’d just glimpsed the demon who had killed her parents standing in Sammy’s nursery, but had the sense not to interfere. Whatever Azazel was doing, all Mary would do would be to get herself killed if she went in there.

That meant a very long, very awkward conversation with John. The one where she admitted she’d been lying to him their entire relationship. The one that ended up with John walking out on her and the boys.

In fairness, John wanted to take the boys with him until he realized that he couldn’t protect Sammy from whatever had been done to him or whatever was coming for him. He took one look at Dean playing peek-a-boo with his baby brother and decided he couldn’t bring himself to separate the boys. He just left.

Mary couldn’t afford the house on her own, so she loaded up everything she could in the Impala and left. John said he’d bought it for their boys, so he left it for them. Mary couldn’t go back to her parents, but she could find relatives. Bill Harvelle lived nearby and was one of the members of her family she was still in contact with, so she headed to Nebraska.

The intent was just to stay until she could get herself set up. “It should only be a couple of weeks. I’m so sorry to just show up like this, but John… and with Sammy…”

Bill had listened sympathetically to her story. Bill’s fiancée Ellen was another story. “William Harvelle, if you agree to that, I’m giving you back your ring.”

“Ellie, honey, she’s family. They’re family, and Sammy…”

“That’s the point, you idiot. Mary, honey, you got two boys who need looking after. Bill knows this stuff, he’s been teaching me, I can look after the boys while you two are out on hunts, or you can mind the bar if I go hunt with Bill, or Bill can stay back while we have a girls’ day out and go hunt without him, but the point here is you aren’t trying to hunt and be a single mom, and I’m not sending Bill out without backup or closing the bar to go with him. You know we’d been trying to figure that out, Bill.”

“Lots of hunters work alone,” Mary protested.

Bill shrugged. “Hunters with partners or groups are more likely to make it home after the hunt, you know that. Ellie’s right, Mary. It’s stability and a home for your boys, and it helps us out. This isn’t charity. We’re putting you to work with us, if you stay. Saves you having to start from scratch and the worst part of having to look after two boys, especially with Sammy needing extra looking after thanks to this demon.”

Mary agreed to give it a try, at least. It was definitely the best thing for her boys, so she beat down her pride and accepted the help. The Harvelles didn’t just welcome her into their home and their lives, she was also welcomed into their relationship. Mary had some reservations at first, Bill was a second cousin, but Bill had convinced her that no one cared.

 

And then, three years after he’d left, John showed up at the bar.

He wasn’t the mechanic she’d fallen for and married. The dust on his leather jacket and the lines on his face and the hardness in his eyes told her that. Thankfully, Ellen and Bill were home from their most recent hunt, so Mary could hide and eavesdrop.

Ellen was the one to deal with him. “Hey there. Drink?”

“Yes, please.”

Ellen poured a shot of whiskey. “You look like hell. Hunt over, you just need a break, or lookin’ for help?”

John looked blankly at Ellen. “Hunt?”

“Don’t play dumb. This here’s a hunter’s bar, and you got that look in your eye." Ellen looked around at the other folks in the bar pointedly. All of them were dressed for hunting. All of them were drinking. Most of them had journals or newspapers or Weekly World News type magazines. "Don’t get many tourists stopping in at the Roadhouse.”

John tossed back the whiskey. “Finished the rugaru I was after, but that was just a detour. I’ve been hunting a demon for three years. Know anyone who knows much about them?”

“Sure, I know a guy. What’s your name?” Ellen poured him another shot.

“John.”

Ellen snorted. “You got a last name to go with that, or should I tell my guy to call every John in the phonebook until he hits you?”

“Winchester.”

Ellen jumped a little. “John Winchester?”

“Yes.”

“Got it." Ellen did her best to cover, but John was still looking at her strangely. "Bobby Singer started hunting when a demon murdered his wife. What did this demon you’re after do to you?”

“I’m not…" John sighed and downed his whiskey again. "Honestly, I don’t know for sure. I was kind of in shock when my wife told me about it, about all this hunting stuff. It’s threatening my son, though.”

“Where are your boys now?” Mary winced. Ellen shouldn't know that there was more than one son, not from talking to John.

If John noticed the slip, he didn't let it show. “Hell if I know. Mary took them and ran after the demon showed up, I tried to find her but she probably doesn’t wanna be found.”

“Why would she take your boys and run from you?”

“Because I didn’t exactly react well when she told me about hunting. By the time I got my head out of my ass and realized that being there for my boys and protecting them was more important that whatever hurt feelings I had over the lying, she was gone.”

“Huh.”

That was enough for Mary. “When he says he didn’t react well… he means he threw me the keys to his car and walked out.”

John's mouth fell open, whiskey glass halfway to his lips. “Mary?”

"John." Mary looked him over. From up close, she could see that the three years apart had aged him so much more. Typical for new hunters. “So you’re hunting now?”

“Yeah. And you’re… working at a bar?”

Ellen went over to Mary and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Among other things. Including hunting.”

John was taken aback, but he rolled with it well enough. “Are the boys here?”

“They are. Dean remembers you, but Sammy doesn’t.”

“He was six months old, of course he doesn’t remember me. Can I see them?”

Mary stared hard at John. “You gonna come around and be a father to them, or just blow in and out? They don’t need the disruption if it’s not gonna give them their daddy.”

John's face went completely soft, and Mary could finally see traces of her mechanic in there. “I’ll come by as often as I can.”

 

That had lasted all of six months before Bill and Ellen insisted that John stay, too. Dean was thrilled to have Daddy back, and Sammy got over his initial wariness. Baby Jo took to John right away, and watching John with a baby girl melted what was left of Mary’s anger and hurt over the fight. She was a little surprised at John’s resistance to the idea of getting back together, until Bill intruded on their conversation and set him straight. “You’re not taking her from us, she’s choosing to spend some of her time with you. Ellie and I don’t mind. Think you can handle that?”

John thought maybe he could. He was right. That just made it harder when he had to come home from a hunt in Wyoming without Bill, and break the news to Ellen. Had to tell Jo her daddy was dead. “Are you gonna be my daddy now?” Jo asked.

Startled, John looked over to Ellen. Ellen nodded. “I’m not going to try to replace your daddy, sweetheart. I want you to remember him. I’m gonna do my best to do what he can’t for you now, though.”


End file.
